Explore Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the growing totem trail on Alaska’s waterfront

Evidence of the region’s Indigenous communities and long history was long missing from Juneau’s highly trafficked waterfront where ships carrying thousands of visitors daily come in. Now twelve vibrant, brand new totem poles adorn the shoreline.

Dedicated in April, these poles represent the first batch to be raised as part of Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the Totem Pole Trail—a cultural reclamation project supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project and spearheaded by the Juneau-based Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI). Upon completion, the Trail will include thirty such poles conceived in partnership by clan members, SHI, and Indigenous carvers.

“It really has transformed the downtown waterfront,” says Ricardo Worl, SHI’s communications and publications director. Before this new trail, visitors had to walk farther into Juneau to find traditional totem poles, which are typically made from red cedar trees. “They weren’t all together visually,” Worl says, and so in addition to placement in a highly trafficked area, the new trail also organizes totems in a way that is intentional to invite deeper exploration.  

These new poles, however, are strategically placed and serve as colorful, commanding beacons. They endow the visitor experience with “a lot more authenticity,” says Worl, noting the positive reception they’ve received from Juneau residents who post notes of gratitude about the poles on social media, and remark that visiting the Kootéeyaa Deiyí tops their list of things they do with out-of-towners. The poles “have meaning,” he says. They’re “not just a piece of art. They’re living items.” 

A long-overdue celebration of Indigenous culture and history, the trail represents part of SHI’s effort both to help make Juneau a world arts capital and to enlist the talent and knowledge of Indigenous artists and craftspeople in the process.  

Preserving that knowledge base and cultural heritage—and furthermore transmitting it to future generations—is essential to Kootéeyaa Deiyí. To that end, SHI is collaborating with a local school district as well as the University of Alaska to develop related curricula and lesson plans.  

These include, says Worl, “learning about totem poles themselves. Learning about the artists themselves. Learning about the crests that are owned by the clans and some of the technical aspects of selecting a tree—the ceremony when a tree is felled, the tools that are required and the paints. So, lots of educational components.” 

In support of such an expansive pedagogical undertaking, SHI is building out a website with information about how the poles are made, what the symbols on them mean, and more, including a video about their creation. In addition, storyboards related to the carvings on each pole were put in place a few months after the initial dedication; each one includes a QR code that visitors can scan to access the website and enrich their experience of the trail. 

As all that happens, the team at SHI is moving forward with fundraising—a necessary step on the road to completing the balance of poles, as each one costs about $200,000 from start to finish.  

Mellon’s support “really gave us the boost and put us on the map,” Worl says. “We’re confident that now that we have these poles existing, it should make fundraising a little bit easier. We have something tangible to work to.”